A life boat crew attempting to rescue holidaymakers at a flooded caravan park
in Wales had to be airlifted to safety themselves after their vessel was
swept away by the torrent of water.

In total, more than 150 people were rescued from floods which happened when the River Leri burst its banks in the early hours of Saturday.

Four caravan sites and dozens of homes in eight villages along the banks of the river, close to the seaside town of Aberystwyth, were deluged.

Cars were submerged and families were evacuated or forced to take refuge upstairs after fierce summer storms battered large parts of Wales and brought more than six inches of rain in 24 hours. Across the region, around 1,000 people were moved to safety in the affected areas.

A major rescue operation involving fire crews, coastguard lifeboats and Royal Air Force Sea King helicopters, was launched in the early hours of this morning.

A crew from Royal National Lifeboat Institution helping with the evacuation had to be airlifted to safety themselves, however, when the force of the river current became too strong.

The four-man crew were winched to dry land by the RAF crew, who also rescued two teenage girls whose caravan had become cut off and a family of three who had climbed on top of their trailer to escape the rising waters at the Riverside Caravan Park in Llandre.

The floods were the most dramatic effect of summer storms which battered large parts of Wales, the Midlands and the north of England on Friday night and Saturday morning.

Forecasters said more floods were likely on Sunday and predicted more heavy rain for south-east England on Sunday night and Monday morning.

In Wales, dozens of holidaymakers were woken at 2am by rising water.

Fire brigade crews, the RNLI and the RAF were all called in to lead people, many of them elderly, to safety.

Stephen South, owner of the Riverside Caravan Park, described it as the “scariest night of my life”.

He said: “There were elderly people, children and a disabled person all trapped in their caravans in the darkness. We managed to walk some people out but others had to be manually lifted and we used ropes to get them up the embankment.

“Some teenagers were asleep in one caravan and we could not rouse them to start with.”

RAF search and rescue crew member Sergeant Dickie Myers said: "We were airborne just after five o’clock, we were told there were floods in the area.

"We saw the river was fairly swollen, the water level was above car levels in some places, and up to the windows of static caravans.

"We did all we could, and when we left the area we felt we’d helped everybody that we could."

Katie Hughes was with her four children in a caravan. She said: "My car was underwater, it was terrible, the children were all crying, none of us had suitable clothing on, we are all soaking wet. But everyone is pulling together."

Chief Inspector Robin Mason, of Dyfed Powys Police, said some people were trapped in buildings.

He said: "They are upstairs, we have emergency rescue teams in the area with inflatables, and we are in the process of evacuating people."

Sam Ebenezer, a Talybont resident, said: "The amount of water is just amazing, it's flowing from higher ground, incredible scenes, it's devastating seeing close friends' housing being soaked all the way through.

"The fire crews have done an amazing job.

"Older residents are saying that in 60 years they've never seen the river as high as this. I think it's high tide at around 12 o'clock, we're hoping that's not going to make more mess."

A spokesman for Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service said there were around 75 fire service personnel in the area, in 15 fire appliances and three or four fire boats.

He said around 4 to 5ft of water was flowing through the main street in Talybont.

"There is large amount of water and a heavy current running through the caravan park," he said.

"Numerous people are surrounded by flood water and are requiring rescue by fire service boats, inshore life boat teams and RAF helicopters."

Jason Hughes, who lives in Dol-y-Bont, said: "Looking at people's gardens and the fields, there will be a big clear up.

"It's a good community spirit, everyone's looking after everyone.

"The RAF have been over, and the coastguard, there's not a lot they can do, everyone is safe enough, they are waiting for the water levels to go down."

There were fears of further flooding at high tide at noon on Saturday and the RNLI positioned two boats in the harbour to act as “goalkeepers” should anyone get washed down river, but water levels started to recede as the rain eased in the afternoon.

Elsewhere in the UK, police were investigating whether a car crash which claimed three lives was caused by wet weather. A fourth person was fighting for their life in hospital last night after a car ran into a tree in Pershore in the West Midlands, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

There was also a damp start to the festival season, with mud hitting the Download Festival in Castle Donnington, while in Bradford, a celebration of Asian culture which had been expected to attract 100,000 people over the weekend was cancelled.

Paul Mott, senior forecaster with MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said that some areas of Wales had more than six inches of rain in 24 hours.

The average amount of rain for the whole month of June in that area is just under three inches.

“We’ve seen the worst of the rainfall in the flood-hit area, with maybe just some showers in the next few days,” he said. “River levels are still pretty high, so there could still be some problem with flooding from the remainder of the rain that has fallen over the last 36 hours, but the lack of significant further rainfall should alleviate the situation.”

A different weather system coming up from the English Channel is expected to bring heavy rain to south east England on Sunday evening and in the hours that follow, making for a wet Monday morning rush hour.